After three days and two nights spent in the premises of the judicial police, the leaders of the FNDC, a coalition which spearheaded the protest against the third term of former President Alpha Condé, were transferred this Thursday to the civil prison in Conakry after being heard by an investigating judge. They were charged with contempt of court and public insults.
With our correspondent in Conakry, Mouctar Bah
Presented before an investigating judge at the Dixinn court in the inner suburbs of Conakry, the trio Foniké Mengué, Billo Bah and Djani Alfa were immediately placed under a warrant of committal and imprisoned in the civil prison of Conakry. The arrest last Tuesday of these three activists of civil society aroused a wave of indignation within the political class and the living forces.
” We were quite outraged to see that in Guinea, we still have arguments to validate, somewhere, the beatings they received, the acts of torture they suffered, telling us that this is a refusal to ‘obey, indignant Me Halimatou Camara, lawyer, member of the group of defense lawyers. Either we are in a republic where we respect human rights, human rights or we are in a big jungle and we have to face the truth “.
The brutal arrest of the three leaders of the FNDC threw spontaneously thousands of young people in the streets of the capital. They erected barricades, burned tires and violently clashed with the police. The trial in flagrante delicto is expected this Friday where the lawyers hope for a release.
” We are delighted today that the case is caught in the act, especially allowing us to situate our clients on their fate. And we are convinced that they will be free because their file is empty », Estimates Me Thierno Souleymane Barry.
This is the very first time since the CNRD came to power that civil society activists have been arrested and prosecuted in court.